The evening world., 1887-11-18
MUCH WORSE H A RED TAPE.
LOSS AND INCONVENIENCE CAUSED BY A
RECENT POsT-OFFICE ORDER.

A Circular which IL Declared to Make Reer.
lations Never Intended by Conare..-
Publishers nd Merchants Deeply Inter
estcd-Absurdities of the Omcial Con.
struction Of the Law.
There have been plenty of absurd orders
issued by the Post Office Department since
its establishment, but for quintessence Of
assininity. the readers Of The WORLD are
confidently referred to one which recently
emanated from that source.
Congress is constantly tinkering with the
postal laws, but sometimes gentlemen who
have to do with the management of the de-
partment set themselves up to declare what
Congress meant when it said 30 and 30 in
what appeared to be so many plain words,
and sometimes they make a mess of it.
The laws themselves may be simple and
plain enough. but the construction placed
upon them by the officials is sometimes most
wonderful and wholly unwarranted by the
text. and even impossible to be read between
the lines.
The circular referred to is q. good example
of u~nwarrantable definition of the statute
law.
Though the law says nothing to this effect,
the wise men who composed this circular
say that no newspaper or, other perl
odical will be carried through the
mails as second class matter if i shall
and the time when his subscription expires.
Should q person subscribe for both @ Sunday
and a weekly edition of the same periodical,
or q weekly and semi-weekly edition. it would
Sunday" Weekly" or Semi" printed
with the address, else the subscriber would
be required to pay letter postage.
This order appears to affect more particur
has been felt by other publishers and many
merchants.
1t is hard blow to newspaper publishers,
particularly by reason of the fact that scarcely
any Of the larger newspapers keep subscrip-
ton books, the only record Of subscriptions
being. the inscription left BY the
Dick" mailers on the sep Sepies Of
fishing papers by the saving made In tho
large force necessary to keep subscription
books. Now the effect of the circulars Of
the Post Office Department nullffy the gain
and require q return to clumsier methods and
higher prices.
Absurd and irrational as this construction
of the statute is regarded, even more 30 seems
that which is applied to third class matter,
and it appears to be of as little benefit to the
General Government, though equally detri-
mental to the interests of those who have to
depend pom the mails.
In this class of mail matter are embraced
ated articles, The new order denies to the
person sending third-class matter the
right to write. or print upon il any
thing except his name or address, Q re-
turn request and the name and address
of the person for whom the article or pack
age is intended. Should the sender unfor-
tunately, request a return TO Rev. John
JONES' letter postage would be charged be-
a,.a h. hoI kra,orragonI tha ov,,rff ~ kha
ley! @Rd in mentioning his occupation in the title
Hundreds of tons Of labels, circulars and
envelopes have been rendered useless, and
thoughtless or toe. thoughtful circular.
Alone So1 i ssas 7s.oSo sircu fs1s'ff inolo osd
n Geysrnment-s stamped envelopes to The
that letter postage would have to be paid be-
fore they could be forwarded, because of the
request on the envelopes that in case they
were not called for they Be returned TS 2 q
but one. case of hundreds where the order
has worked great damage.
So explicit is the order that If q circular
envelope has printed upon II any picture Or
utter folly of the whole, order Is shown
by the fact that 1t allows the circular to be
l taken from the obnoxious addressed envel-
ope and made a package Of circulars by the
bllppllH u IupbOi oAtt v pOu4
! and envelope. when both may go through the
Z mails as third-class matter.
They of the Post Office who have to handle
p the mail are as much disguised with the order
publisher sends matter under all the classia-
: cations and has different circulars for each
q on which is printed a designation OF the
: class of mail matter to which the
, package belongs. This has served
to inform not only the sender but the Post
!, Office employees, who knew Immediately,
! from the label, to which class the matter
!, belonged and whether it was to be weighed
5 in bulk or separately. Such Inscriptions and
. directions are tabooed by the order and the
work of the employee increased, hardly to hui
1 delight,
. If the Post Office Department had desired
4 to raise hob with publishers and cause any
. amount of unnecessary trouble without
a consequent benefit to the Government, PEG
: pie say it could not have succeeded NOR,
. effectually than it did in the promulgation Of
q this circulars